Keele welcomes Chinese Consulate officials to honour the life of Michael Lindsay

Officials from the Chinese Consulate General in Manchester paid a special visit to Keele University to celebrate the life and achievements of Michael Lindsay – the son of the university’s founder, Lord Lindsay of Birker. 

Michael’s story is largely unknown in the UK but during a state visit to the UK in 2015, China’s President Xi Jinping specifically mentioned him in a speech to the UK Parliament, highlighting Michael as an example of international friendship and a long-time ally to China. 

As a graduate of Oxford and with further studies at Cambridge, Michael was appointed as an economics lecturer at Yenching University in Beijing in 1938. 

Under his Chinese name, Lin Maike, and alongside his wife, Hsiao Li, they risked their lives by smuggling supplies to help the guerrilla fighters during the invasion, and helped China develop their radio communications. Today, the Chinese people continue to hail Michael as a remarkable international ally. And adding another connection to Keele, Michael’s son, James, also studied at the university during the 1960s. 

To commemorate the milestones, Keele’s language centre hosted an event featuring speeches by Vice-Chancellor Professor Kevin Shakesheff and Consul General Tang Rui. The programme also included a lecture by Professor David Law (pictured), former Academic Director of Global Partnerships at Keele, on Lord Lindsay and his son Michael. The event was attended by Chinese students from the university and representatives from the Consulate. 

Following the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, Michael became a citizen of an enemy state and liable for arrest, but he and his wife managed to escape. For the next four years, they acted behind enemy lines with Hsiao giving birth to their son James - who himself studied at Keele and received an honorary degree from the university in 2022. In November 1945, after the Japanese surrender, the Lindsays returned to Britain. 

Michael was teaching at the Australian National University, in Canberra, in 1952 when his father sadly died, and Then inherited the title to become the second Lord Lindsay of Birker.